Back in the saddle, again

Prominent political social-media content guru Adam Kleinheider has been hired as the communications director for Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, according to a press release sent out today.

Kleinheider built a niche as Tennessee’s most prominent professional political blogger, first with WKRN and then with SouthComm. Both of those positions ultimately ended in lay-0ffs, but Kleinheider remained in high regard. He was a favorite guest of the progressive talk radio show Liberadio(!). Kleinheider also continued aggregating Tennessee political news through his Twitter feed.

During his time at SouthComm, Kleinheider helped a number of local Tennessee stories go national through his blog site. Even though he specialized in aggregating content of other journalists across the state, Kleinheider broke news on his blog site and developed his own column that ran in the City Paper. He also caught some negative attention for a post that referenced an African American state House candidate wearing “black face.”

“I have encountered very few people involved or engaged in state
government in Tennessee who didn’t count Kleinheider’s blog as a
valuable resource for staying informed each day,” Ramsey said in a press release. “We’re excited to have him as part of our team.”

Ramsey also announced the promotion of Lance Frizzell to chief-of-staff and the hiring of Jordan Young as a special assistant. Frizzell was formerly the deputy chief-of-staff.